It can be a hard fact to accept when you find out that one of your valued employees is guilty of internal theft.  Internal theft is referred to as theft by employees who are hired to work for your business.  In my experience I have found that everyone entering your store is not planning on doing a good job for you.  In fact some are actually planning on doing a number on you.

As hard as it is to conceive internal theft is very common.  Unfortunately internal theft often makes up the majority of all losses seen by retailers.  Employees suspected of theft are often hard to catch.  An employee theft investigation has to be done in a very sensitive manner and in a way that any other parties involved will also be discovered during the investigation.  It is important that an employee theft investigation capture all employees involved in committing the theft.

The damage from allowing employee theft to continue with initiating an employee theft investigation immediately can be severe.  Employee theft can result in the loss of thousands of dollars in merchandise for a retailer in a very short amount of time.  Many employees who commit theft came into the business the first day knowing exactly what they wanted to do.

Employee theft can be practically unnoticeable until it is too late.  Having the assistance of loss prevention professional that specialize in employee theft investigation is a plus.  As a loss prevention manager, I have handled hundreds of cases involving employee theft and had to interview the employees implicated in the investigation.  It has never ceased to amaze me the ways in which employees justify their crime.   I have heard employees say that they were passed over for promotion or that they were owed the money for all the work they had done.  Businesses must be proactive in the preventing employees from stealing from them.

 For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Employees can steal anything, but nothing is more sought after than cold hard cash.  Employee theft (also called internal theft) of cash is perhaps the most common theft that I investigate.  The reason two fold.  First, merchandise can have limited functionality to the thief, but cash can be used for anything.  Secondly, there are more ways to steal cash than merchandise.

Internal theft of merchandise is generally straight forward.  The employee takes the merchandise and leaves without paying.  Sometimes you run into employee theft where the employee bags up merchandise and “passes it off” to a friend or family member without charging them, but these are the two main examples of merchandise theft.  An employee theft investigation into cash theft can have a lot more avenues to follow.

One way internal theft of cash can take place is by the cashier simply opening the drawer and removing the cash.  Look for large amounts of “No Sale” transactions to find this type of theft.  Another common employee theft investigation finding is cash theft by voids.  In this method the cashier will void a transaction when they see the customer is paying with cash.  They will still take the cash from the customer and give them the product; but since the void shows the sale as never taking place the associate is free to pocket the cash and there is no traceable shortage on the register.  Another popular cash theft option is refund fraud.  In this case the cashier will do a fake refund to product from the shelf or just laying around the register.  They will then pocket the cash or put the money on a gift card which they can later use or sell.  Whichever method the employee decides to use, employee theft of cash is still a major problem for retailers.

For more information on employee theft investigation, employee theft or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

In any employee theft investigation there is an important question that should be answered quickly.  Is this a case of an associate making an honest mistake?  I have found that associates that make honest mistakes will not develop a pattern of errors that become harder to explain the longer the employee theft investigation continues.  The purpose of the employee theft investigation is to uncover the truth about observed suspicious behavior or suspicious transaction based on exception reporting.

The reason it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation is due to the tremendous amount of employee theft that has been committed and was caught far too late.  In the retail industries that I have worked in, employee theft accounted for more than half of all the losses the companies incurred.  The reason for such high losses is because of the time employee theft may go unseen.  Companies can be taken for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if employee theft is not disposed of quickly.

While working as a loss prevention manager, I remember when an internal theft case was discovered at one of the store’s distribution centers.  The internal theft case found that there was a pattern of receiving shortages occurring in several districts, all being serviced by this specific distribution center.  The investigation found that the distribution center associates were working with store receiving associates and stealing thousands in merchandise.  The receiving associates would always say that there was just an honest mistake when they unloaded the truck and that the merchandise did arrive at the store.  Thanks to the smart efforts of several loss prevention professionals and corporate loss prevention the case was solved.  This internal theft case included multiple associates in multiple locations.  The theft that was being done could have continued for a long time, if there were not quick and concise actions by the Loss Prevention Department.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

As long as your business has employees, there will always be the possibility of an internal theft problem. Many business owners think it will never happen to them; however all it takes is one dishonest employee to dramatically cut into your businesses profits.

One recent employee theft investigation that I worked involved a dishonest employee and her friend. It was obvious from video and interviews that over the course of time the dishonest employee became more confident as she got away with discount abuse time after time. As her friend saw her get away with the abuse, she became involved in the discount abuse as well. She allowed many of her friends and family members to use her discount to receive merchandise for half off retail price. This type of internal theft heavily impacted the store’s sales numbers and after the two employees were fired we saw an increase in the store’s profits.

Employee theft like this highlights an important point: if other employees notice a dishonest employee getting away with doing something wrong, they maybe more influenced to become involved in dishonest behaviors as well. It could result from peer pressure or simply the allure of seeing someone take advantage of the system and not get caught.

The best defense against employee theft is to keep an open ear. An employee who talks about having no money but is constantly shopping is a major red flag. Another red flag is employees whose friends and family members frequently shop in the store on regular intervals. If you suspect you may have an internal theft problem, consider hiring an LP professional to conduct a full employee theft investigation.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Statistically the number one reason that businesses raise their prices is to offset loss.  Secondly they raise prices to offset an increase in cost from the vendors.  Both of these can be strongly influenced by internal theft (also known as employee theft).

Employee theft is the number one causer of loss in major retail.  Most studies show internal theft as contributing to 45-70% of the overall losses to the company.  In addition, retailers aren’t the only ones experiencing employee theft.  Vendors and manufacturers have internal theft as well.  No company is exempt.  A vendor or manufacturer can have low level employees taking goods and they can have upper management cooking the books and embezzling money as well.  All of these losses are then passed onto the next person down the chain.  The manufacturer charges the vendors more to offset their losses.  The vendors then charge the stores more when they sell to the buyers.  The stores in turn charge more to the consumer.  One way to help keep prices low for your customers and protect your profits is to conduct an employee theft investigation.  This can be done by a trained manager or can be outsourced to trained LP Investigators.

A proper employee theft investigation is geared at accomplishing several results.  The first result is to find the thief and get rid of them.  On the surface this at least fixes that particular problem.  But the employee theft investigation should not stop there.  It should also look at how much did the employee take and pursue restitution, civil demand and possible criminal prosecution.  This will recoup money for the company so ultimately the losses are minimized.  Additionally, the employee theft investigation should look for others committing the same acts and should look at possible solutions to preventing future losses of this nature.  This provides more long term solutions against employee theft.

For more information on internal theft, employee theft, employee theft or investigation contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

It is true; some of a retailer’s best employees are committing employee theft.  Often high performing associates are not looked at in terms of employee theft; however, I have seen several high performing employees get caught stealing from the company.  Incidences of internal theft are not exclusive to poor performing employees.  These employees may never think about taking from the place they work.

Employee theft or internal theft as it is referred to, can be appealing to any employee that is interested in gaining the system for their own personal enrichment.  I have often found that associates who believe that they are beyond reproach will take in much more brazen ways.  The thought that, no one would ever suspect me, creates a false sense of security for the associate.  Associates that are bent on stealing from the company may also have leadership roles.

I remember an internal theft case that involved a manager with over twenty years of service.  During an employee theft investigation the manager was shown to be disarming the security system at night.  The manager should have been gone for the day, but said they had to get some work done.  The employee theft investigation revealed that the manager was actually taking merchandise out of the store and putting it in their car.

When the employee theft investigation was ended and the manager was interviewed the manager admitted to over $20,000.00 in merchandise theft.  The manager had supposedly started taking the merchandise to finance a personal problem they were dealing with.  The store manager could not believe the person they counted on for years would be implicated in an employee theft investigation.  It was obvious that the store manager would have never watched the assistant manager or even thought that they would have ever stolen from the company.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

The holidays have arrived and that means the stores will be buzzing with shoppers.  It is important that retailers stay vigilant in making sure they are protecting their assets from the inside out.  This means that, as we are aware of the increase in shoplifting around the holidays, there is also an increase in employee theft around the holidays.  Retailers must do an effective job at preventing both employee theft and shoplifting in their stores.

The number of new employees that are hired during the holidays is high.  All of these employees are not looking to impress their new employers.  In fact, many are planning on committing some type of internal theft.  Employees that never plan on staying passed the holidays are indicated in employee theft cases at an alarming rate.  Unfortunately it is imperative that the retail try to prevent any attempt at internal theft by the seasonal employee.

Having a system in place that automatically can initiate an employee theft investigation at the first sign of any impropriety is important.  A quickly initiated and closed employee theft investigation can be the difference between whether a retailer has a good fourth quarter or not.  Employee theft investigation can be conducted with only the investigator being aware of the investigation.  This will eliminate any suspicion and allow for a thorough investigation.  The limited intrusion into the business will also allow the morale of the employees to continue to be festive, as they want be aware of an ongoing investigation.

I have been in loss prevention for a number of years and I know the importance of closing internal theft cases quickly during the holidays.  Many employees may begin stealing immediately and resign before you can catch them.  Retailers must be focused on protecting their assets from the inside out.  Maintaining a consistent focus on preventing theft during the holidays will ensure a very happy new year.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

While working as a loss prevention manger, I witness acts of employee theft almost on a monthly basis and in some months more often.  I recall one case of employee theft that had me baffled.  After observing a pattern of the same customers purchasing large amounts of merchandise at one specific associate’s register.  When this associate would be working without fail a group of individuals would come in and go through the associate register to be checked out.  My years of experience in retail said that something was not right and that this might be a case of employee theft.  This instinct, lead me to begin an employee theft investigation.

During the employee theft investigation, I watched the subject process the transaction of the group that had been seen only using her her register to checkout. The transaction looked normal, the associate appeared to pass all the merchandise across the scanner and the customers appeared to tender their payment.  In an effort to fully analyze the transaction and conduct a thorough employee theft investigation, I reviewed the electronic journal for that register transaction.  What I saw was that none of the merchandise observed on camera being scanned by the associate matched the merchandise shown on the receipt.

When I concluded the employee theft investigation, I interviewed the associate about why the merchandise being scanned did not match the merchandise going out the door. I ask the associate were they aware of our internal theft policies and had they committed internal theft while working at the store.  The associate admitted to committing internal theft while being employed and said that they used the price labels from less expensive products to scan the more expensive items. The associate admitted to taking about $3500.00 in merchandise from the store.  After identifying the associate accomplices in the surveillance video, the police were able to recover some of the stolen items.

 For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

If your business is experiencing unexplained shortages, you may want to take an inside look for what is missing.  Simply put the problem may be an employee theft issue.  Businesses are always looking outside their doors to explain inventory shortages.  As a loss prevention professional, I know how hard it can be for a manager to look at their staff.  Internal theft is real and occurs more often than managers may think.  Managers should look at their staff with objectivity and look at the behavior and key performance indicators in an effort to get an informed assessment of their staff.

Taking a look at your employees does not mean that there is an issue of employee theft being committed by the employees.  An employee theft investigation can allow for an internal theft analysis of the inventory shortages to be done.  An employee theft investigation can help pinpoint t where losses are occurring.  The results may or may not be determined to be the result of employee theft.  However, when unexplained shortages occur, it has been my experience that they are almost always indicative of employee theft.

Time is always of the essence as businesses, especially retailer have a tremendous amount of exposure to acts of theft.  Retailers open their doors everyday to the public and leave them unlocked and open until they close.  If there is internal theft occurring it could have the potential to destroy any chance for a retailer to make a profit from the sale of their merchandise.  It is a positive when a retailer assesses their internal operations.

As a loss prevention profession with over ten years of experience, I implore every retailer to take a look inside their business.  An employee theft investigation can yield reliable and pertinent information about your staff work performance or lack of.  It is imperative to act and act quickly to remedy internal problems.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Retailers assume loss from a variety of sources.  Generally speaking, internal theft (AKA employee theft) accounts for the majority of loss incurred by major retailers.  When we talk about shoplifters we find that ORC or Organized Retail Crime networks account for the bulk of our external losses.  So what happens when the ORC rings and employees team up?

The answer is the store will be closing soon unless something is done.  Employee theft and ORC on their own can kill a store, but the combination of the two is devastating.  Something that I have been finding more often when conducting ORC investigations is that they are using an “inside man” (or woman) in order to help them get away with their crime.  The employee can be useful in many ways.  On the surface they can alert the shoplifters when LP or management is not around.  I remember working at one store and it always seemed that within an hour of me leaving the store would call and say they had a grab and run.  It became obvious that they were being tipped off by someone inside.

Other ways that employees can assist ORC groups is by stealing themselves and/or manipulating inventory systems to cover the losses that are going on.  They can also alter prices so that their counterparts pay pennies on the dollar for product and then they can resell them at much higher rates.  Whatever method they use, the employees in our stores can cause a lot of damage.  They only way to prevent this is to use a routine employee theft investigation to rout out the bad apples.  An employee theft investigation can be aimed at a specific employee or can be a wide net cast to see if red flags pop up in the store.  Either way, internal theft and ORC can ruin a business if left unchecked.

For more information on internal theft, employee theft investigation or employee theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia